When I was a kid, I believed that cow tipping was a regular activity for mischievous teenagers in rural communities. It didn’t seem so unrealistic at the time, but learning some basic facts about cows quickly made me realize that cow tipping is just a silly myth.
Cows have nearly 360-degree vision, they spend most of their days lying down, and, on average, cows weigh in at 1500 pounds. Therefore, you'd need a group of muscular humans to sneak up on a cow at just the right time of day... and hope they don't resist!
According to a humorous article from Modern Farmer, "you’d have more luck trying to tip over a Camry than a cow."
Below are five cow-themed things to teach your kids.
1. A silly joke.
Have you herd this cow joke yet? You are sure to be a-moo-sed!
What did the mama cow say to the baby cow? It's pasture bedtime.
2. A new vocabulary word.
Having a bad hair day? Your cowlick may be to blame...
Also known as a hair whorl, cowlicks are the unruly sections of hair that grow out or in a different direction from the rest of the hair. Everyone has at least one, though some aren't noticeable at all. The most common place to find a cowlick is on the crown of your head.
3. A word puzzle.
To solve a rebus, consider not just the words but the placement, size, color, and quantity of everything within the box (and sometimes just outside the box!) when trying to decipher the puzzle.
4. A fun fact.
Aside from milk as a beverage, butter and cheese are probably the first things you think about when considering uses for milk, but did you know that milk can also be transformed into plastic?
Before synthetic plastics were invented, scientists extracted casein (a protein in cows' milk) to make toys, jewelry, beads, ornaments, etc. Modern-day uses of casein include glues, paints, paper coatings, and man-made fibers.
Read more about the science of casein and then try your own plastic-making experiment with ingredients you probably already have at home. Below are some tutorials for you to check out:
- STEAM Powered Family: Make Your Own Plastic Toys from Milk
- Science Buddies: Turn Milk Into Plastic
- Mommy Poppins: Turn Milk Into Plastic in This Science Experiment
5. Teach a personal discovery.
Cows and humans have quite a bit in common. In fact, 80% of our DNA matches!
Though humans share a large portion of their DNA with cows, we're actually more closely related to other living creatures like cats, dogs, horses, and apes. Odd but true, humans share anywhere between 40 and 60 percent of the same DNA as bananas. Yep... those long, yellow fruits from the produce department.
What do you know about your own DNA? Have you ever taken a DNA test to discover your unique traits and history? How do your results compare to your siblings, parents, and long-distant cousins?
"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." – Albert Einstein.
